Sigh… everyone goes through life feeling sorry for themselves every once in awhile. Sign, I don’t have this; sigh, I don’t look like that. But how often do you ever see a giant anteater feeling bad for itself? Granted, it isn’t like you just see these guys walking down the street like Fifi the poodle or Patchy the kitty-cat, but still, don’t you think having an enormous protruding jaw that looks like a nose, no teeth, poor eyesight, and two-foot-long tongue would be enough to depress even the most confident person…or animal?
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder
Well, the giant anteater must know something that we all don’t about the secret of true beauty, for this five-to-seven-foot-long South American citizen knows and acts as though it has everything it needs to ensure itself a long and happy life…and, in fact, it does.
Nature has purposely configured the apparently odd features of giant anteaters’ bodies in order to assist them in the hunt for their main sources of food, termites and ants. Giant anteaters’ elongated jaws are extremely efficient at poking around anthills and termite mounds, and their extra sticky saliva and 24-inch-long tongue are perfect for lapping up little scrambling insects. And even though they have poor eyesight and no teeth, their fantastic sense of smell and muscular, food-grinding stomachs are able to take over and compensate for the features they lack.
Despite its exotic appearance and strangely-functioning body parts, the anteater maintains an optimistic outlook on life and shows ill-will toward none. While munching on ants or termites, it never destroys the insects’ mounds – it just uses its long jaw to carve an opening large enough to slurp out some supper before moving on to another anthill or nest. Anteaters lack the ability to bite (no teeth, remember?), and aren’t aggressive animals. When threatened, however, they are able to fight off predators, such as jaguars and cougars, with their sharp, four-inch-long claws.
Olive the baby giant anteater
All that said, at the end of the day, perhaps we should take a moment to study the giant anteater’s example and understand that we were all made to look the way we do for a purposeful reason, for true beauty is written on the heart, not on the face.
Writer: Stefanie Hanselka